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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When did Paul's secret start?

2. How does Paul remember hearing the postman that morning?

3. What does Paul imagine was NOT recorded as the dog walked through the wet cement?

4. How does Deidre smile at Paul after he answers the question in class?

5. What does the grocer's shop have in its window?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Paul feel about his parents in Part 1 in relation to his secret?

2. How does Paul describe his shoes and the steps he is taking?

3. How does Paul feel during the doctor's questioning, and what does he compare himself to?

4. What is it that leads Paul to believe his secret is snow?

5. Why does Aiken choose to set the story in Paul's mind?

6. How does the author display Paul's intelligence level?

7. How does the snow describe the story it is about to tell Paul as Silent Snow, Secret Snow ends, and what does the story represent?

8. What does Paul begin to wonder about as he stands in front of his house?

9. How is the snow talking to Paul in the beginning of Part 4, and what is it saying?

10. What does Paul's mother tell him at the end of Part 1, and how is his response significant?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain what Paul's thought process is pertaining to his secret and hiding it from everyone.

1) Why does it become more valuable to him if no one is aware of it? How does he think it elevates him to a superior place? Which events in the story illustrate that the most?

2) What does Paul think would happen if his parents learned about the snow? How does he think they would react, and why is that an integral part in his decision to keep it from them?

3) What is the sacrifice that Paul is willing to make with regard to his parents? How is his rationalization one of the deepest signs of his detachment? What is so disturbing about it, and why is he unable to understand the severity of what he is thinking?

Essay Topic 2

What does the lesson Paul is sitting in contrast? Why does the author choose this as the place to start his story? In detail, describe the ways that Miss Buell's lesson provides a representation of reality and how Paul is lost in another world. How is the topic of the lesson significant? Why does it help the reader to understand Paul's fascination with snow? Use specific examples of events from Part 1 to support your analysis.

Essay Topic 3

As Paul withdraws into his room, his mother follows him and opens the door, interrupting the snow's agenda and signaling the final events of the story.

1) Describe the way Paul's mother is perceived by both Paul and the snow, and how those perceptions display the extreme illogical state he is in.

2) What is Paul's response to his mother, and how does the way he reaches for his response indicate his separation from life?

3) Why is Paul's mother unable to help him? How is Paul completely detached from himself at this point? How does the way he responds to his mother represent the final barrier between him and the snow?

4) Explain the way Paul thinks after he rejects his mother's help, what is strange about it and what it eventually leads to. What is the last thing that Paul sees, and how does it reflect the length of the story?

(see the answer keys)

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